


The Barbed Arrow of Hope

by PrinceofHellebore (PrinceofPlants)



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Conversations, Gen, Grief, NaNoWriMo 2020, ep 174 spoilers, ep 175 spoilers, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27569962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofPlants/pseuds/PrinceofHellebore
Summary: Zolf and Earhart remain with the ship as the rest of the crew ascend.  Zolf finds that he isn't holding it together as well as he thought.
Relationships: Amelia Earhart & Zolf Smith, Zolf Smith & Oscar Wilde
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	The Barbed Arrow of Hope

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if we will get to see Zolf and Earhart interact much as they wait with the ship but this is a little what if they do. Hope you enjoy.

Zolf watched as the platform ascended on ropes as thick as his arm. It was slow, creaking progress. He could see the faint wobble created by the wind even when they were still close to the ground. The crowd of the crew in the center huddled together. Most of them apprehensive, nervous of the strange rail-less elevator. Cel was full of a vibrating energy, their head tilted so far back that they almost tipped over backwards. Hamid raised his hand and waved at Zolf. It was a small gesture, which Zolf answered with a raised hand. A small promise that they would see each other again soon and that they would be okay. The bodies were there too, laid out in the center of the platform. A solemn formality to their position that was enhanced by the spell Zolf had cast to preserve them. He lost sight of the four of them the quickest. Losing sight of Wilde felt to Zolf like losing him a second time.

Zolf tried hard to hold onto the hope that his companions would rise again and be whole and themselves and that he wouldn’t have to go on with the gaping wound in his heart. He’d not realized how unprepared he was to lose Wilde. Carter he’d had the expectation that he would die on every single mission he’d ever been sent on, even if it had just been to market. He hadn’t known the kobolds well except as competent crew members and was sad for their loss, sad for Hamid and Skraak, both of whom were taking it hard. But Wilde… Zolf had spent the last year trying to protect him. He’d known that in the vague future there would be a time when all of them might risk their lives to change the world back. But that time wasn’t yet. Zolf hated to hope so dearly that he might see Wilde alive again because if his resurrection failed Zolf thought the loss of that hope might be worse than finding him dead in the first place, and that pain had been as bad as any physical wound he’d ever taken. 

The platform was well above his head now, he could see none of it’s passengers. Earhart stirred next to him. “Well Mr. Smith, I think we best see to securing the ship.”

“Yes, Captain.” Zolf turned and trudged through the snow to the wreck of _The Vengeance _. It had lost its starboard wing in the crash, and the shell of metal spires had been scraped off the lower parts of the hull. But with those gone the wooden underside had behaved more like a sled than anything and slid across the clearing, turning up the snow and ice as it plowed into the far tree line.  
Zolf climbed aboard after Earhart and went about securing all the lines they could. Many had snapped or the rails where they had been fastened had cracked. They did the best they could to repair the standing rigging and hold the masts and spits steady. The broken wing they hauled in and lashed to the broadside. __

__“How do you think they are going to lift it. Are they going to take it all the way up there?” She pointed at the side of the enormous bear at about the angle where it became lost in cloud cover. The platform was completely gone from sight now._ _

__“They said they would.” Zolf said though he was still unsure himself. He trusted Cel and if Cel trusted that the Ursine people would help them he was willing to extend a certain amount of faith to them. That feeling of goodwill was unpracticed and thin after the months spent trusting nothing and no one, but he hoped. “As for how, I don’t know. There are spells I suppose. You saw the ropes, no idea what they’ve made them from, well I guess the bear’s hair… Anyway... I suppose they’ll attach lines enough to lift her then haul us in same as the platform.” Zolf shrugged, a hand lifting above his eyes to peer up into the swirling clouds._ _

__“Right.” They both stood on the slanted deck staring upward._ _

__“Let’s walk through and stow anything that’ll shift, don’t want to cause a sudden failure.” Earhart headed for the hatch and the ladder down into the ship. Zolf knew she wouldn’t find anything, the ship had put itself to rights during the aurora. Other than the tents and blankets they had fetched out no one had had time to get into anything else. He followed her down and started in the galley which was cleaner and better packed then he’d ever managed. Even at an angle the cabinets’ catches had done their job and kept everything from toppling out. Zolf left there and went first through the sleeping quarters which without being subject to the wild magic was a little tossed around. There was not much there though that would cause an issue. Then he visited the cargo hold. It was a mess of altered items. There were another couple of trees, and other plants, suffering already in the cold, and the same riot of color and streamers as everywhere else. He wandered, unsure where else needed his attention and found himself standing outside Wilde’s cabin. He opened the door, unsure what he would find._ _

__The cabin was also neatly stowed in a way that Zolf knew was the aurora and not Wilde. He’d never seen Wilde with a clean office, or if he had it was in the moments that he was taking over someone else’s space. It felt like seeing Wilde’s body, it was Wilde’s but he was utterly and completely gone from it. Zolf stumbled the couple of steps to the bunk and sat down. His chest ached, his throat bunched up and a stinging pain grew behind his eyes. He put his hands over his face and tried to hold back the tears. There was hope, there was hope that Wilde and the rest would live. Why cry? But Zolf wept into his hands and then even sitting up was too much. He curled up on Wilde’s bunk and sobbed. It was minutes before the tears stopped and he could breath more evenly. His head felt full of wool and his nose was stuffy. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve.  
“Mr. Smith?” said Earhart, Zolf didn’t trust his voice yet to respond. “Zolf?”_ _

__“Yeah,” he croaked and sat up._ _

__“You okay?” Earhart stepped cautiously into the cabin. Zolf’s voice abandoned him and his lips trembled. He could feel tears prick at his eyes again. He wanted to say yes but failed. He shook his head and covered his face again._ _

__Earhart started going through the drawers of the desk and then opened the trunk and started digging through it. “Damn him, I’d have thought he’d have a pile of silk handkerchiefs.” She eventually came over to Zolf with a cloth, this was one Wilde had clearly picked up in Japan, it had stylized waves and clouds painted across its breadth. Zolf took it and used it to dab at his eyes. He kept his gaze downcast so that he didn’t have to make eye contact with Earhart._ _

__Earhart sat down beside him, the thin mattress sinking slightly. Her legs were too short for the bunk and swung a few inches off the floor. “I don’t know what to say, neither of us is good at this. I want to say things that make you feel better but I know that isn’t kind, not really. But it isn’t done yet. We might not have to mourn yet.”_ _

__“I know, I know, but the hope that this can turn out okay feels like a barbed arrow and its going to hurt so much worse when it comes back out.” Zolf took a calming breath. “I thought I’d prepared myself to lose people. It’s the dread that we’ve been living with for months. But Wilde was a constant, always waiting for us to come back. I worried about him but I hadn’t…”_ _

__“Yeah,” Earhart’s hand rubbed his shoulder in a circle. It was small and awkward, not physically very soothing but Zolf appreciated how hard she must be trying and found a little comfort in it anyway._ _

__“I’m sorry, we should be standing ready.” Zolf wiped his eyes again and then folded and tucked the cloth in his pocket._ _

__“It’s okay if you aren’t ready to. I can stand watch until they come for us.”_ _

__“No, I’m… I want to be doing something, I need to be doing something.”_ _

__“Right, not sure what there is, whole ship is in better order than I’ve seen it the whole journey, bar the damage of course. What happened to the bar?”_ _

__“Oh,” Zolf laughed, a little short huff of a laugh, “yeah, the ship came alive during the aurora and made itself ship shape.”_ _

__“Right, that explains this better,” Earhart gestured around, “I never took Wilde for a neat man, if this was Barnes’ cabin its exactly how I’d expect but…”_ _

__“Yeah, this isn’t Wilde at all.” Zolf waved his hand around and then bit his lip, on the edge of tearing up again. He’d thought he was handling it but the loss of everyone, the loss of Wilde cut at him._ _

__“Sorry, this may seem rude, crass for the circumstances, but I wouldn’t have guessed you were so close to him. Maybe that’s just my er… personal bias speaking.”_ _

__“If you’d asked me before… but how could we not be close after a year like we had. Trusting only each other, seeing only each other, depending on each other. I can’t imagine finishing this without him. I don’t want to live in a world restored without him there.”_ _

__Earhart nodded, “yeah.” She was quiet for moment. “Let’s go see if we can figure out if they’re ever coming for us.”_ _

__Zolf followed her out and up the ladder to the deck. The bear didn’t seem to have moved but staring up at the clouds he was sure he saw giant birds circling. He felt better in the bitter cold air even with his face raw and stinging. After a few more minutes waiting the bear moved. Its heavy earth-shaking steps shifted it closer to the ship. The birds seemed to dive in and buffet it to guide the careful placement of its paws. Then they landed and ropes unfurled down from the invisible heights and figures came out of the trees. As they approached, their promise kept, Zolf let the little flame of hope for Wilde’s resurrection grow._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts.  
> Love,  
> Prince of Hellebore


End file.
